Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. Often compared to the Gap, Bench offers men�s, women�s and kid�s apparel and accessories, including footwear, housewares, watches and more. Having dominated the Philippines and mainland China, Bench is now set to expand into the U.S. less

Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. Often compared to the Gap, Bench offers ... more

Photo: CHRISTINA KOCI HERNANDEZ

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Popular movie stars act as store's models.
Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. Often compared to the Gap, Bench offers men�s, women�s and kid�s apparel and accessories, including footwear, housewares, watches and more. Having dominated the Philippines and mainland China, Bench is now set to expand into the U.S. less

Popular movie stars act as store's models.
Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. ... more

Photo: CHRISTINA KOCI HERNANDEZ

Image 3 of 4

Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. Often compared to the Gap, Bench offers men�s, women�s and kid�s apparel and accessories, including footwear, housewares, watches and more. Having dominated the Philippines and mainland China, Bench is now set to expand into the U.S. less

Description: Bench, a popular clothing and accessories retailer from the Philippines, is opening its first U.S. store at the Serramonte Center in Daly City on June 3. Often compared to the Gap, Bench offers ... more

Photo: CHRISTINA KOCI HERNANDEZ

Image 4 of 4

Bench pressing in U.S. / Trendy Philippine clothing retailer opens in Daly City

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After saturating the Philippines with its tight jeans, trendy T- shirts and flashy ads of underwear models, Bench opened its first U.S. store in Daly City, banking on its name recognition among the area's large Filipino population.

"We're quite popular in the Philippines, and we know there's a huge Filipino community here," said Jude Ong, general manager for Bench, which bills itself as the Gap of the Philippines. "We know we have an initial customer base already. People know the brand."

Bench -- with more than 300 stores in the Philippines and a handful of stores in Kuwait, Guam, Riyadh and China -- opened its newest store in Daly City's Serramonte Center on Friday, drawing shoppers who immediately recognized the brand name.

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"Every time I go to the Philippines, I go to Bench," said Gigi Deleon, 38, of Daly City as she surveyed the racks of clothing and shelves of colorful lotions at the new Bench store. "I've been waiting for this to open."

Bench, which derives its name from its founder, chairman and executive creative director, Ben Chan, introduced its first store in the Philippines in 1987. It grew from a men's T-shirt shop to an apparel store that included women. Bit by bit, it widened its offerings to cosmetics, housewares, fragrances and snacks.

Prices for Bench products tend to range on the low end. For instance, a T- shirt can cost anywhere from $9.99 to $12.99 and a pair of jeans will run from $19.99 to $29.99. The company targets its apparel at teenagers and people in their 20s. While its styles are virtually indistinguishable from those at U.S. retail chains going after the same market, its advertising has a clear Filipino focus.

Famous for displaying Filipino actors and actresses posed seductively in Bench clothing and underwear, the company is applying a similar marketing strategy at its store in Daly City.

Hanging on the walls are blown-up images of Filipino film star Diether OCampo leaning up against another film star, Khristine Hermosa. Louis Wong, store operations manager for Bench, said the company plans to fly in top Filipino model Richard Gomez to the Daly City store in July.

Mannequins in the front window have Filipino faces and wear Bench low- rise jeans and clingy T-shirts. One boy looked into the store on Friday and commented to his friend, "This is the first mannequin that looks real."

Wong said the company is starting on a small scale before deciding if the California market is strong enough to support more locations. The Daly City store is only 1,257 square feet -- far more modest than the 300,000 square feet typical of a Bench store in the Philippines.

Daly City is home to a sizable Filipino community. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 24,027 people -- or 23 percent of the city's population -- are Filipino.

Jollibee's, a popular fast-food chain in the Philippines, opened its first U.S. store in Daly City in 1998. Bench is trying to mimic its success by going after the same market, while hoping to attract customers who may not be of Filipino descent.

"Our objective is not to just capture the Filipino market," Ong said. "But with them around, you have the initial people coming in. At least we're not starting from scratch."

J.R. Delfin, 25, of Daly City looked around the store Friday, gathering a small pile of potential purchases in his arms. Typically, he relies on family members to make shopping excursions to the Philippines to buy him new clothes. But now he can do his own shopping.